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A Wilkes County man is awaiting sentencing in federal court after his case was transferred from North Carolina to federal court. Emer Dean Jones, 40, of Congo Road, Wilkesboro, entered the guilty pleas in U.S. District Court in December 2012, pleading guilty to one count each of
transporting child pornography and possession of child pornography, according to the release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Charlotte. Jones faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography and a maximum sentence of five to 20 years for transporting child pornography. His case was moved to federal court after Det. Nancy Graybeal of the Wilkes Sheriff’s Department initially charged him with being a sex offender on a social networking site and two counts of third degree sexual exploitation of a minor in June 2012. Det. Graybeal said Jones was charged with sending pornographic materials via the Internet to a person he met through an Internet chat site that he thought was a 12-year-old female, but who was actually an undercover officer who worked for the Marion Police Department. She said the Wilkes Sheriff’s Department’s latest investigation of Jones resulted from a tip received from the State Bureau of Investigation’s Computer Crimes Unit. The Wilkes Sheriff’s Department, the Marion Police Department and the SBI Computer Crimes Unit are all members of the N.C. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Det. Graybeal said she charged Jones with being a sexual offender on a social networking site once before. He also has a prior conviction of indecent liberties with a minor in Surry County.